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GRASSUND 

 FARMING? 



By EVART VANDER MEULEN 



Dir«cter, Field $«irvl<« Divltien, ProduMri $e«d Co. 



A Mietp (lop* Had down wifh an excellent pa*ture of lodlno 

 tittver and timothy l« examined by Punk Anderten and Donald 



Davit, USOA Mntc 



I. Vander Meulen 



iinnUHN TO GRASSLAND FAKiM- 

 ' I ' ING NOW! ! It is a way of 

 ■ farming in which level fields 

 J are used for cultivated crops in 

 rotation with productive for- 

 ages. Rolling fields are kept in grass 

 as long as possible. "Washing" hill- 

 sides are held in grass all the time, and 

 the steepest slopes 

 are left permanent- 

 ly in protecting 

 woods. 



Grassland farm- 

 ing is a well bal- 

 anced system of 

 farming. Its success 

 depends upon hav- 

 ing an abundance 

 of economically 

 produced and effec- 

 tively used hay and 

 pasture fo^age. This 

 calls for sound cropping and soil con- 

 serving practice, planned to avoid waste 

 of fertility by erosion, leaching and ex- 

 cessive plowing. It aims not only to 

 maintain the fertility of the soil, but to 

 increase and improve it. 



Grass in the concept of grassland 

 farming is not limited to the grasses; it 

 embraces also their common associates 

 of the legume family — the clovers, 

 lespedeza. alfalfa, and many others. 



Good legumes and grasses mean good 

 farming. Little head-way can be made 

 in real soil improvement and conserva- 

 tion, or efficient dairy and live-stock 

 production, without adequate acreage of 

 high yielding and high quality legumes 

 and legumes-grass mixtures. 



Except for a few areas in the state a 

 large percentage of farms fall far short 

 in both acreage and yield of legumes 

 and grasses. For the past decade we 



have been taxing our soils to the utmost 

 and beyond the danger point. Illinois 

 farmers should look to the future and 

 consider again the land and its manage- 

 ment - — this time as never before in 

 terms of grass. For around grass, farm- 

 ers can organize general crop produc- 

 tion so as to promote eflTective practices 

 that lead to permanency in agriculture. 



Grassland farming by its very nature 

 must be planned with a long time pro- 

 gram. It needs increased acreage of 

 superior and well adapted fsrage crops. 

 These should be combined when neces- 

 sary with proper soil and water con- 

 serving practices. Grassland farming 

 in Illinois is a way of farming whereby: 



More land is in grass most of the 

 time, some land is in grass all of the 

 time. 



More consideration is given to in- 

 creased production and seeding of high 

 quality forage, harvested at the right 

 time and with a minimum of loss. This 

 will require increased acreage of im- 

 proved pasture and hay fields. 



Cultivated crops are restricted to the 

 less erodable soils and are planted less 

 frequently in rotation. 



Corn and grain when used in rota- 

 tions will be more productive because 

 of the soil saving and soil improving 

 effects of preceding crops of productive 

 forages. 



Good farming practices are continu- 

 ously followed. These include longer 

 rotations, manuring, liming, fertilizing, 

 strip cropping, terracing, contour plow- 

 ing and cultivation, and drainage where 

 necessary. In such a program, forage, 

 whether used for pasture, hay, grass 

 silage, or soil improvement, is worthy 

 of culture on good land. 



A reserve of organic matter will be 



built and maintained in the "soil bank" 

 against the day when more intensive 

 production of cultivating crops may be 

 necessary. 



Research workers and nature have 

 given us improved varieties of grasses 

 and legumes. These varieties have a 

 definite place in our grassland farming, 

 with a particular feature of being more 

 productive, or more cold or heat-resist- 

 ant, or more disease-resistant, or more 

 tolerant to less fertile soils, or more 

 compatible with a companion crop. We 

 will innumerate only a few that have 

 been given to us in the past decade. 



Alta and Kentucky 3fl Fescue — Im- 

 proved strains of tall fescue adapted to 

 a wide diversity of soil and climatic 

 conditions. An excellent pasture grass 

 for use with legumes such as ladino 

 clover, lespedeza and others. Recom- 

 mended principally for the southern 

 half of the state on land where they are 

 not able to grow brome grass success- 

 fully. 



Brome grass (southern strains), 

 Auchenbach, Lincoln, Fischer and Els- 

 berry — Strains well adapted to the 

 entire state of Illinois having the fol- 

 lowing advantages over the northern 

 domestic or Canadian strains : ( 1 ) more 

 resistance to summer heat, especially in 

 seedling stage, (2) spread more rapidly, 



(3) start growth earlier in the spring, 



(4) yield more forage, (5) more 

 drought resistant. 



Ladino Clover — A giant form of 

 White Dutch adapted to the more fer- 

 tile, moisture holding soils of the state. 

 It has proven to be an excellent pasture 

 legume and used principally with 

 grasses. 



(Continued on page 22) 



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L A. A. RECORD 



